


Center of the Universe

by c00kie



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6499333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day Leslie turns eighteen, she kisses Ben Wyatt for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Center of the Universe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ashisfriendly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashisfriendly/gifts).



> For Ash, because she's my favorite.

The day Leslie Knope turns eighteen, she kisses Ben Wyatt for the first time. At first all he does is stare at her, as if not quite sure if he’s awake or dreaming, but then his lips descend down on hers, his hands pulling her closer. In the background, Leslie hears someone say something about twenty dollars, but she pays it no mind as she finally learns how Ben’s hair feels when she cards her fingers through it. 

Eventually they pull away, out of breath and lips sore. 

The day Leslie Knope turns eight, she declares, in front of her family, friends and everyone else that was invited to her birthday party that when she grew up, she was going to marry Ben Wyatt. 

Ben, being fifteen at the time, took the news as well as you would imagine. Most of the audience laughed and awed and talked about how adorable her crush was, but Ben knew Leslie. Once she put her mind to something, she always succeeded. 

“Yeah, okay. I’ll marry you,” he laughs, rolling his eyes as she marches over to him, hand stuck out for him to shake. 

“Deal.” 

He takes it as camera’s flash. “Deal.” 

The day Ben turns nineteen he’s in Minnesota, at Carleton college, studying for exams. His girlfriend walks into his room, carrying a package. “This came for you,” she says, “they gave it to me to give to you.” 

Without looking, Ben knows the package is from Leslie. She’s been giving him Birthday and Christmas presents for as long as he can remember. And every year they’re thoughtful and perfect and somehow just what he needs at the time. 

She even somehow manages to pick of the right wrapping paper. 

This year, Rebecca got him a cd from a band he doesn’t even like. 

“So who’s it from?” Rebecca asks, “Is it from your mom?” 

“It’s from my future wife,” Ben tells her, quickly shaking his head at Beck’s raised eyebrow. “It’s a joke. I’ll open it later. Right now I could go for a calzone.” 

“Alright, birthday boy,” she says, grabbing her purse from next to Leslie’s package. 

The day Leslie turns sixteen, she stands in line at the D.M.V to get her driver’s license. “Thanks for coming with me.” 

“It’s no problem,” Ben says, shrugging. “You nervous?” 

She is nervous, but not because of her driver’s test. She’s nervous because she’s standing next to the man she’s loved since she was six, and it’s rare now that she gets to have these little moments with him, where she feels special, like she’s the center of his universe, like he is in hers. 

She knows these moments won’t last. That eventually Ben will met a woman his age that will make him happy enough for him to want a future with her, and Leslie’s time with him will be over. 

So she grins and says, “Never.” 

The day Ben turns thirteen he catches the strange girl who falls out of the tree. As soon as she’s in his arms, he stumbles backwards and they both tumble to the bottom of the hill. For a minute Ben thinks he might be dead, but then he feels the bruises forming on his butt and the scrape on his arm and all he can do is will himself to sit up. 

The girl is giggling. She’s five, maybe six, with curly blonde hair that makes him think of every nursery rhyme about dangerous blonde girls. But she stops laughing suddenly, staring at him like he has something growing out of his head. 

“What were you doing?” he asks, standing up. 

“Practicing,” she says, brushing herself off. “I have to practice climbing if I’m going to be Batman when I grow up.” 

“Well, here’s your chance. Climb up this hill,” Ben says, his  annoyance turning into something close to admiration. 

On the day Leslie turns fifteen when she experiences heartache for the first time. And it’s not because Derek Nichols’ mother called her to break up with her for him, and it’s not because her mother had to work late and she can’t have a party until the weekend. 

It’s because Ben doesn’t call her to wish her a happy birthday, and there’s no card in the mail. 

And even though she knows it could just be because the post office didn’t deliver it on the right day, Leslie also knows the truth. 

Ben forgot. 

The day Ben turns twenty two, he moves back to Pawnee, into a house down the street from his old one, and ironically, closer to Leslie’s. 

He’s unpacking when his doorbell rings. He answers it and sees her, her hair longer than the last time, and taller, but not by much. 

“Hello, I’m Leslie Knope I’m here to welcome you to the neighbor- oh it’s you,” her smile turns into a firm line that he doesn’t like. 

“Are these for me,” Ben asks, taking the plate of cookies. “Thanks, Leslie Knope.” He winks at her, knowing that usually does the trick when she's upset with him.

“Whatever. Happy Birthday, jerk.” she stomps off and he closes the door. 

He's hungry, so once again, her present is perfect, even if she didn’t mean it to be. 

The day Ben turns twenty four when his co-worker sets him up on a blind date. He sits in the restaurant for an hour, ready to give up and go back home when the waiter places a chocolate lava cake in front of him, a single candle lit in the center. 

“Courtesy of that table over there,” the waiter explains. He looks over and sees Leslie and Marlene, the former waving him over to sit with them. 

He blows out his candle and takes his cake and what’s left of his dignity over to them. 

“Future wife.” 

“Happy Birthday, future husband.” 

The day Ben turns twenty six, Leslie shows up at his house in roller skates, holding a box wrapped in robot wrapping paper. He pulls her inside, asking, “is this fragile?

“No,” she answers and he tosses the present aside. 

He spends the rest of the evening getting wheel shaped bruises on his back. 

The day Leslie turns twenty two, Ben holds out a ring and says, "A deal's a deal, Leslie Knope." 

Three days later, he takes her to the aquarium. they sit on a bench together and she rests her head on his shoulder; watching the fish swim around and through the coral. She's not sure if he waited for her or she waited for him but through some sort of strange magic, they’re together. It seems impossible so she thumbs the ring on her finger, feeling the diamond on her finger. 

She always took her dreams of marrying him as a fantasy, the same kind that made her believe she could one day become Batman. The only reason she kissed him on her eighteenth birthday was so she could finally know what it was like, before she got over him finally.

But one kiss made her realize there was no getting over him. He was everything to her, and nothing was going to change that. 

Now she has irrefutable prove that he feels the same way.  

“Wanna go to the gift shop?” 

Leslie kisses his jaw, because she can. “Yes.” 

The day Ben turns thirty, he keeps his promise. 


End file.
